ADVERTISING: THE ORIGINAL FAKE NEWS

CANNES LIONS 2019 – THE PLAGUE OF PASTEL ADVERTISING

Advertising is all about authenticity.

Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

My take from last week’s Cannes Lions last week was a lot of nonsense talked about values, purpose, and authenticity. Listening to these wankers, you might forget that the real purpose of ad campaigns is to sell more shoes, razors, or video games.

I started yelling about this when Nike’s “Dream Crazy” and the overhyped NY Times films scooped the Black Pencils at D&AD then predictably scored Gold Lions here from equally PC, virtue signalling judges.

Imagine then my glee, when my old client/now Unilever Global CEO Alan Jope called bullshit on the industry explaining that “woke-washing” is polluting purpose. He suggested that the consumer goods conglomerate’s giant ad budget, worth well over $8 billion per year, won’t go towards agencies or other companies that deal in “false purpose.”

I posted a vid about it and Alan was kind enough to reach out. We chatted about old times at JWT Bangkok, caught up with news and made plan to catch up when schedules allow. A wonderful way to round up my festival.

Next year, I’m going to grab a villa and put on a personal brand workshop for a handful of clients…. wondering whether to do it before or after…. let me know what would suit you best.

I’m now in St Tropez for ten days and heading to Stockholm next week for ten days then a month in Warsaw. If you’re in any of those places, hit reply and let’s catch up.

Paul Regan

Paul Regan is known as the world's #1 TVC Treatment Writer. He provides training, consulting, and director treatment writing services that win pitches for directors and production houses worldwide.